"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
-- George Satayana

Lest We Forget

By: Linda Case Gibbons

Time passes, people are busy and news happens so fast we quickly forget about one story as another develops close on the heels of the one before.

Distraction. It makes it hard to keep track of what is important and what is not. It also can be a political tactic. As Rahm Emanuel noted, you never want a serious crisis to go to waste.

That is why we have "Lest We Forget."

We will reach back for news that we think we should all remember in order to stay involved and informed. Politics today is no longer a spectator sport. Remembering facts and issues can help us make good decisions when choosing our country's leaders.

November 20, 2013

If you have been wondering what the heck the president is thinking, lo these last five years, or you have been worried about the way he behaves, a well-known psychiatrist has an opinion on that.

This article appeared on October 10, 2013. It is a psychological evaluation of President Barack Obama by Dr. Keith Ablow, psychiatrist and best-selling author.

President Obama's rhetoric is finally coming closer to what appears to be his psychological truth: Because America victimized him and countless millions of others, any person or party or movement that opposes his views and does not yield to him is not just his adversary, but abusive, predatory and even threatening.

Again and again, President Obama has described members of Congress who insist on fiscal responsibility a having taken "hostages,” "demanding a ransom,” using "extortion,” and threatening to "blow up” the government.

On Tuesday, in fact, the president used these exact words when speaking to the press, "What you haven't seen before, I think from the vantage point of a lot of world leaders, is the notion that one party in Congress might blow the whole thing up if they don't get their way,” he said. Later he added, "You do not hold people hostage or engage in ransom taking to get 100 percent of your way.”

It is exceedingly difficult to come to terms with a person who sees you as his oppressor, his kidnapper and someone terrorizing him who might well destroy him. You aren't likely to consider whether your assailant and jailer and would-be killer have a few good ideas, after all.

Seeing Barack Obama as someone who has a victim mentality would explain a lot. That mentality relies on believing one has been harmed, that one was not responsible for the injuries that occurred, that one could not have prevented what happened and that the person's suffering makes that person morally right and deserving of sympathy.

As a young boy, Obama was, indeed, helpless.

He was helpless to stop his father from abandoning him.

He was helpless to stop his mother from leaving him with his grandparents.

He was helpless to stop his white grandmother and caretaker from communicating to him her fear of black people.

I'm not sure the president ever got over it.

The president's victim mentality could contribute to dissolving the will of countless Americans who might otherwise see themselves as capable of summoning internal resolve and creativity to surge out of poverty.

True victims can't surge out of anything because they are hostage to forces outside their control. They await justice and restitution.

They don't, ultimately, see themselves as able to stamp out poverty; they see themselves as the rightful recipients of food stamps.

They don't, ultimately, see themselves as able to take control of their health; they see themselves as the rightful recipients of free health insurance.

They don't, ultimately, see themselves as someone worth hiring and worthy of investing themselves with education and training; they see themselves as worthy of 99 weeks of unemployment checks.

And the president's victim mentality could have already gone global.

The apology tour that the president embarked upon after being elected to his first term in office, apologizing for America's supposed predatory behavior toward others, turned his victim mentality viral – offering a pandemic of helplessness to anyone who wanted to claim that the ills of its nation were due to a monstrous pathogen called the United States of America.

A victim mentality would explain why the president immediately allies with anyone else he thinks might be a victim, too.

This explains the seemingly bizarre statements he made castigating local police in Cambridge, Massachusetts for detaining a distinguished Harvard professor and man of color who they understandably considered possibly to be an intruder.

It explains him thinking that if he had a son, that his son would look and act just like Trayvon Martin, an alleged drug user and burglar who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, an older man of a different race.

In fact, the president went further to suggest that, were he 35 years younger, he could be Trayvon Martin.

If the president sees himself as a 17-year-old being held at gunpoint by an older man then it is too much to expect him to govern effectively.

If he sees himself as having been taken hostage by kidnappers, who want to blow him up, it is too much to expect him to hear any truths these "kidnappers” might want to share.

Victims aren't expected to lead. They expect to be rescued.

That would seem to be our problem as a nation right now.

September 19, 2012

DIANE SAWYER: IS FIT TO BE TIED – ABC News' Diane Sawyer is scandalized. Thinking Bob Woodward was "one of them,” she conducted an interview about his new book "The Price of Politics,” and was taken by surprise.

Turned out Woodward wasn't buying into the liberal media party line, protecting and praising Barack Hussein Obama. She was not only shocked, she was insulted at this breach in the united front the mainstream media maintains to insulate a mediocre president.

She was taken off guard because Woodward stuck to relating facts and did not spin President Obama's participation in the debt crisis in America. He was acting like a journalist and she hadn't seen that, or done that, in a while.

Remarking on the "gaps” in President Obama's leadership in this matter, Woodward said there was a sense that "no one was running Washington,” so that even Democrats complained about the president's lack of leadership.

Appalled, Sawyer took the time to caution her guest that he was handing ammunition to Republicans before the election.

Isn't that strange from a newscaster? During a taping? But Woodward remembering what journalism and reporting is supposed to be said in a balanced statement,

"I am not delivering the ammunition. I am trying to describe what happened…I also make the point that Speaker Boehner was responsible,” Woodward said. "He had a partner, a dancing partner. He has the Republicans in on this…I can't simplify or make a judgment. What I can do is provide that wiretap.”

Woodward said Obama displayed "two sides” of his personality from the beginning of his term as president to leaders of Congress.

"There's this divided-man quality to President Obama always. Initially he meets with the congressional leaders, he says you know, ‘We're going to be accommodating, we're going to listen, we're going to talk, we're going to compromise.

"But then they --- Republicans ask some questions and challenge him a little bit and he says, ‘Look, I won. I'm in charge here.' And the Republicans feel totally isolated and ostracized. And this was the beginning of the war.”

Bob Woodward better watch his back. I think he just made the president's Enemies List by verbalizing what we all have noticed: That the president has a "split personality.”

Hold the line, America.

August 22, 2012

TWO BLOGGERS FILE FOR HOLDER DISBARMENT -- Everyone thought about it, but no one did anything about it. Except two bloggers.

Mike Vanderboegh and David Codrea, bloggers who exposed Operation Fast and Furious, put their money where their mouths were and filed a formal complaint in July, 2012 to have Attorney General Eric Holder disbarred.

To make sure their legally filed complaint didn't get "lost” by the mainstream media, both men published the complaint they jointly registered on their individual blogs.

Complaint claims included "engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation,”"conduct that seriously interferes with the administration of justice,” and professional misconduct for "refusal to comply with a subpoena duly issued by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.”

The complaint was filed with the Washington, D.C. Office of Bar Counsel.

In June Congress found Holder in contempt twice, criminal and civil, for failure to produce the subpoenaed documents.

Wanting to have it both ways, President Obama claimed executive privilege over the requested documents while continuing to maintain that he was not involved in the authorization or management of the failed Fast and Furious operation.

The Department of Justice also protected Holder and sent a letter to House Republicans saying it would not be pursuing the case against the head of the Department of Justice.

In circular fashion, the reasoning stated was that "the attorney general's response to the subpoena issued by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform does not constitute a crime,” citing the White House invoking executive privilege as the main reason for not proceeding.

Not wanting to be outmaneuvered, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a George Soros-funded watchdog groups which targets Republicans and conservatives, filed an ethics complaint against Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).

But since it's not over until the fat lady sings, during the August recess, House Republicans filed a civil suit August 13, 2012 against the attorney general. According to Rep. Darrell Issa.

"We're seeking a remedy and the remedy is an order to compel,” Issa said. "Nixon didn't respond to Congress, he responded to federal judges, ultimately the Supreme Court, ordering that he had no such privilege to cover up the tapes. And these are no different than the Nixon tapes, we're asking for documents related to a cover up of lying to Congress.”

March 7, 2012 -

POND SCUM TO THE RESCUE -

If you find yourself cursing the day you were born when filling up your SUV at the gas pump, remember, the president really does feel your pain and you're the one who's wrong. You just don't have enough faith.

President Obama has announced that he has addressed the high price of gasoline and has an alternative energy source – algae! It grows on ponds, for goodness sake.

What could be easier?

The only problem is the algae-biofuel isn't invented yet.

"You've got a bunch of algae out here,” Obama said at the University of Miami this February. "If we can figure out how to make energy out of that, we'll be doing alright. Believe it or not, we could replace up to 17 percent of the oil we import for transportation with this fuel that we can grow right here in America.”

So those of you who are angry with our president for blocking the Keystone XL Pipeline, shame on you! Sure, this algae-gasoline may not be ready for your trip to Florida on Memorial Day…or for Thanksgiving dinner at your mom's, but buck up.

The Department of Energy knows how to spend for research and it currently spends approximately $85 million on some 30 research projects to "develop algae biofuels,” according to the White House. The good news is Obama is committing another $14 million to this project.

But the road to government involvement in alternative vehicle fuels has proven to be a bumpy one. Biodiesel accounts for less than one percent of the diesel fuel market as of 2008 and ethanol has received more than $10 billion in subsidies, yet the fuel accounts for only five percent of vehicle consumption as of 2008.

And when it comes to drilling more oil in the meanwhile, it seems the president's claim that he has given support to oil production may have been a fib."These have been the most difficult three years from a policy standpoint that I've ever seen in my career," Bruce Vincent, president of Swift Energy, an oil and gas company in Houston said yesterday. "They've done nothing but restrict access and delay permitting."And while Obama is out there protecting our planet, Washington Examiner's Michael Barone says he's not really doing that at all.

"We've prohibited a pipeline, the safest way to transport oil, from Canada, but we're aiding Mexico in offshore drilling, which is riskier, and by a firm that lacks the experience of the U.S. firms we have been trying to prevent drilling in the same body of water," Barone wrote."Does this make any sense at all?"

REMEMBER SOLYNDRA? –

Would you believe? A Delaware bankruptcy court judge approved $370,000 in bonuses for employees of the bankrupt solar panel manufacturer. This is the company tied to Obama fundraiser George Kaiser and whose bankruptcy creditors include the California Democratic Party.

The company went belly up in 2011 after receiving half a million dollars in a loan guarantee from the Department of Energy in 2009, yet Solyndra attorneys say the bonuses were necessary to retain essential employees as the company winds down.

However, lawmakers disagree, 53 in fact.

"A significant number of these employees already received pay raises after the bankruptcy was filed because they were staying on to close down or liquidate the business," said Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va. "It's very disappointing."

Although the 53 lawmakers opposed to the bonuses petitioned the President by letter, the White House did not respond.

January 11, 2012 -

IF OBAMACARE IS SO GOOD, WHY THE WAIVERS?

Almost 1,500 waivers have been granted to U.S. companies to exempt them from the requirements of Obamacare for a period of time. This number includes seven states, 1,372 unions, businesses and other institutions.

More than 50 percent of waivers were granted to the unions which contributed more than $120 million to Democrats in the last two elections. These unions supported and campaigned for Obamacare. Obama returned the favor.

Of the 435 congressional districts in America, nearly 20 percent of new waivers were granted to businesses in Nancy Pelosi's home district. These included posh hotels and spas.

This process begs the question "If Obamacare is so great, why so many waivers?” During Prohibition, the resistance to outlawing alcohol ultimately resulted in its repeal because it didn't do the job. You connect the dots.

Dr. Milton R. Wolf, M.D. is a diagnostic radiologist, medical director, author of "First, Do No Harm,” Broadside Books, Voices of the Tea Party series and cousin of President Obama.

He says: "I'm proud to call Barack Obama my cousin but my oath is to my patients and my loyalty is to liberty. You cannot choose your family but you can choose to stop them from tearing down the finest health care system in the world and turning America into a European-style social welfare state.”

Colin Hanna of Let Freedom Ring sums up the Obamacare legislation: "This is a bill that was written in secret after secret meetings, jammed through and now many of its supporters are seeking waivers and the same veil of secrecy for exceptions to the law applies as existed in the writing of the law. It is a paradigm of unaccountability and lack of transparancy.

WHEN DEMOCRATS RUN, THEY REALLY RUN...

In 2011, Wisconsin Democrats showed us what their idea of a good Democratic game plan is. In opposition to Gov. Scott Walker's plan to cut the pay and benefits of public employees and reduce unions' ability to bargain with the government, State Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller and 13 other senators simply ran away to an unknown destination so the vote would be delayed.

While state troopers were sent to find them, this group of senators remained hidden until found by some feisty Rockford Tea Party supporters.

When discovered at the Clock Tower Resort and Conference Center in Rockford, Illinois, the senators scurried to a waiting bus and skedaddled again.

During this turmoil, the State Capitol building was inundated with protesters, protesters who were given support by the White House

President Obama, speaking on WTMJ-TV (an NBC affiliate) said, "Some of what I've heard coming out of Wisconsin where they're making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain generally seems like more of an assault on unions."

Then the president activated his own political operation, Organizing for America, which made phone calls, messaged on Twitter and Facebook and sent e-mails to gain support for the unions

Wisconsin was in financial distress, crippled by unfunded pension and other liabilities that many states are now facing. The hotly contested plan would save Wisconsin $300 million over the next two years; and allowed police, firefighters and state troopers to be exempted; if passed would rule out possible layoffs; and would not affect existing contracts.

In its provisions, public employees were asked to contribute 5.8 percent to retirement plans up from zero percent; pay for 12.6 percent of their health care coverage up from 6 percent; limit annual pay raises to the Consumer Price Index increase unless voter approved; forgo collective bargaining rights over benefits and working conditions, but not over wages and salaries; and enter only into single year contracts. Public sector union dues would not be deducted from paychecks and unions would have to undergo annual recertification as a collective bargaining agent.

Sounds like a fair solution if the other alternative is going broke.

Maybe Obama should have read the bill before unleashing his thugs against Wisconsin's governor. Sound like a trend? An administration that sues its own states and never reads anything of import. An administration that never let facts interfere with the decisions it wants to make.

Hold the line, America.

DO NOT FORGET ARIZONA...

On May 20, 2010, Mexican President Felipe Calderon was allowed to address a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill and attack Arizona's new law on illegal immigration. For this rude spectacle, he received a standing ovation from White House officials and Democrats, including Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano. Both object to the law. Both admitted to never reading it. Secretary Napolitano is a former governor of Arizona.

A supporter of the law, Arizona Republican Senator John McCain was not present. but attended a luncheon at the State Department for Calderon the next day.
Meeting together, President Obama and Calderon were in agreement with Obama's characterization of the Arizona law as a "misdirected expression of frustration," to our country. Our Department of Justice sued our own states: Arizona on its immigration law, in addition to South Carolina, Alabama and most recently, Utah.

Do not forget. None of these elected officials defended America and our Constitution. Remember this at election time and say never again.

NETANYAHU AND THE DALAI LAMA...

As Americans, our faces should be bright red at the childish antics that President Barack Hussein Obama pulls when it comes to our allies. Harvard educated, yet clueless as a Beverly Hillbilly, his gift gaffes to Prime Minister Brown and Queen

Elizabeth had to have been deliberate.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this man have people to super check appropriateness, protocol, national customs? At the very least, respect for your elders seemed to have been lacking during Obama's boyhood upbringing in Hawaii and Indonesia.
Not far into his presidency our new president gave a preview of how he would handle America's allies and foes visiting the White House during his administration. Snubbing is what he came up with.

In November 2009, the president chose not to meet with the Dalai Lama, religious leader and head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, fearful as the president was of insulting China. But in February 2010, Obama granted a 44-minute audience to the 76-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, after which the Dali Lama, saffron robes and all, was escorted out a White House rear exist seldom used except for household staff. The religious man and champion of universal human rights left amidst sacks of piled up garbage.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu fared no better.

When no concessions were forthcoming from discussion of Jewish construction in east Jerusalem, Obama left the March 2010 meeting with Netanyahu. It was okay, Obama told the prime minister, to stay, talk to Obama advisers, but was out of there. "Let me know if there is anything new," our president said. And to send home his insult, the White House denied this guest red carpet treatment -- no photos and no dinner.

Cultivate your outrage. If it feels wrong, it's wrong. We cannot allow a president who is dismissive of all things American represent us in this fashion.

WHO THE HECK IS VAN JONES?

Van Jones was Obama's Green Jobs Czar until his resignation in 2009, but somehow Joe Biden never got the memo.

Appearing on Florida's 970 WFLA radio, the vice president had no idea who Van Jones was when asked to comment on the Occupy Wall Street protesters and the Tea Party movment Biden. He described Jones as an outspoken progressive activist "whoever he is."

Van Jones, by his own admission, is a revolutionary. He was involved in "Standing Together to Organize a Revoluntionary Movement" (STORM) a socialist group which upholds revolutionary democracy, urban Marxism, and Third World Communism, among other things. Jones' approach, he has said, is modeled on the tactics outlined by radical organizer Saul Alinsky, who stressed the need for revolutionaries to blend in, mask their extreme views, present themselves as moderates and integrate themselves into the politicl system until they could gain some control over the means to political power.

"Well, you know," Biden said, "I really don't know about the Van Jones group except what I read in the press...I think the Tea Party and the Van Jones folks are different halves of the same concern. There's an overwhelming frustration. There's a great frustration here in America that the two parties haven't been able to get very much moving. We have been in this period where there's just nothing but fighting."

He continued, "And so you have on the one end Van Jones' guys, whoever he is, talking about Wall Street." When the radio hosts told him what role Jones played in the Obama administration, Biden replied, "Oh is that...alright."

I don't dislike Joe. Who could? And to be fair, there are so many czars in this administration: Border Czar, Government Performance Czar, Urban Affairs Czar, you name its, none accountable to anyone except President Obama, certainly not to the American people.

But isn't there something called a learning curve? Don't we all do our homework when we are in a new job or if we're interested in keeping abreast of current affairs? Shouldn't a sitting vice president be hitting the books to know about his job?"

And don't forget, Joe's the guy was boasted repeatedly about the president and he "literally" reaching out to Jon Corzine for advice on the economy. That's former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, who left New Jersey in a bit of a mess. That's the Corzine who is now under congressional scrutiny to examine the role he played as the head of the now bankrupt firm MF Global Holdings Ltd.